[This will probably be my only post regarding ADF elections, should I choose to run. I feel very awkward (again) using LJ in any way to advance an election, mostly because the number of ADF members on my f-list is so high and using LJ would just. . . make me feel dirty. And not in the good way :)]

I have been nominated for four separate jobs. It's an odd feeling: On the one hand, it's nice to have people thinking I can do a decent job at things. On the other hand, I try and avoid the spotlight and most actual leadership positions as much as possible because I feel that they tend to interfere with the work I do in ADF.

Of course, it's also nice to see that the members of ADF have a strong sense of humour surrounding the elections. . . but I'll get to that last. . .

Here's what I'm nominated for:

ADF Secretary - one of the most powerful positions in ADF (if, indeed, any position can be called "powerful": it sits on the executive committee and gets to help make decisions, but the power is off-set by the sheer amount of work that has to be done. I totally don't want to do that job. That's easy to decline.

Regional Druid - Heartland - An interesting job, one that doesn't require a lot of tangible responsibility: it's easy to be a mediocre RD and do the job competently, but hard to be a really good one. I really like the idea: the traveling priest who works to build community between Groves and solitary members. It would give me the excuse I sometimes need to go out and meet our solitary members and help connect them to the larger organization: druidkirk's tenure as Southwest Regional Druid was inspiring to me. The problem is, I would do just that, and I cannot afford it right now, even with an RD travel budget.

Still, it is attractive, especially since it's not an actual Director position.

Members' Advocate - This one caught my attention immediately. Right now, I do some of the work of the MA just by virtue of being in contact with so many ADF members: Grove members, solitaries, LJ users, people who work through WotY, etc. Many people contact me with their problems because I'm so darn accessible (and I don't mind this one bit). To accept this nomination, though, would be a deeper step into that. More frigtening to me, though, is that it would also be an official step in that direction, and I am not so keen on doing things from an official standpoint. Not that any good Discordian would be.

The MA job also requires a *lot* of time. I expect that I would need to remove myself from several jobs that I actually like in order to do this one. I've already given Vedis a heads-up about the potential need to stop working on proofing OL if I take this nomination, and there are a multitude of other jobs that I might need to give up that I can't even begin to enumerate.

Despite the general fear and time requirements, though, the MA job most attracts me. But I still don't know: deepening my official leadership role in ADF isn't something I really thought I'd be doing right now, and I don't know how it will affect things down the road. I know how hard it is to take a break from leadership in ADF: once you serve on the Mother Grove, you don't want to leave. There's a feeling that ADF can't run without you, or that you're suddenly very disconnected from what's going on. It can be scarier to leave leadership for a time than it is to enter it.

To really understand my interest in both the MA and RD positions, you have to understand that my vocation, I have found, is more than just being "Grove clergy". Recent experiences have led me to see that my vocation is much broader, and that calling myself "ADF Clergy" is more accurate. My Grove, it is obvious to me, is going to need to share me with the rest of ADF in order for my vocation to truly be expressed in a manner that causes me to feel fulfilled. Because of that, both the RD and MA positions speak out to me, as they involve being available to the community at large, and they will also get me closer to the people who I really care about: the members of ADF.

I was asked to run for Preceptor a while back, when romandruid resigned. At that time, I told the people who asked, "I can't take that job. Right now, I am more needed on the front lines than I am in the war room." The real question is: where is my vocation taking me?

Finally, I'm not sure how to react to the email indicating that I've been nominated as the Site of the Annual Membership Meeting of ADF. "Who on earth would come to that party?" I find myself wondering.

Would this cause ADF's membership numbers to increase, or drop dramatically?

What happens if I accept? Do I get disqualified on a bylaws technicality, or can I prove that I am supported by an ADF subgroup (my Grove) and was "held" last year and will again be "held" between May and September of next year?

Oh, the questions I think up on long drives late at night.

In the end, I'm completely undecided about running for anything at this moment. I need to get a cut-off date from the Election Official so I know how long I have to contemplate this thing.Current Location:Southeast of DisorderCurrent Mood:amusedCurrent Music: "Something So Feminine About a Mandolin", -JB

Comments:

Burnout occurs in those people who don't have a) drive, b) a sense of accomplishment, and c) a sense of "sacrality" in their work.

Well, it ALSO occurs when one is just doing WAY too much and doesn't set good boundaries....there ARE physica, mental, and emotional limitations to how much one person can handle, no matter WHAT their commitment.

I don't think that's "burnout", which I see generally as someone saying, "I've burned too brightly for too long, and I simply can't anymore."

I think that's just overloading, which is a contributing factor, of course. But a person can completely overload himself, drop all the balls, and pick them back up again and do just as good a job as he did the first time around.

Someone who experiences burnout, though, doesn't come back and experience the same level of ability/competence/etc. What they experience is an erosion of peak performance: each time they come back, they're less effective, unless they've taken the proper amount of time off. Kinda like a battery that you recharge: only fully recharging it will get you full power. A burned out person needs a lot more to recharge than someone who has just dropped a ball or six.